The only thing that stops the dust is the rain. It’s a sweet reprieve, but there is no middle ground. The land is either as dry as the Betty Ford clinic, or as wet as the ocean floor. Everything can be seen from the ridge overlooking Armadillo as John Marston gently bounces along atop...

Hunter or Hunted?

Have you noticed the strange trend going on with the new Star Wars trilogy? For
some reason, a new evil badass is introduced to the delight of fans everywhere,
and then proceeds to almost immediately die in some lame way. Darth Maul stole
the show with the double-bladed saber, kicked everyone's butt and was sliced in
half by a Padawan newbie. Then there's Jango Fett, one of the most feared mercenaries
in the galaxy, who started off by stomping on all comers and ended with his head
rolling in the dust at Geonosis. Guess the Dark Side isn't as tough as it claims
to be...
Likewise, the adventures of Jango Fett has been transformed into Star Wars:
Bounty Hunter, a promising video game that would finally allow gamers to
don the armor of an unstoppable walking arsenal known as the Mandalorians. Sounds
pretty cool, right? But before you can even launch your first poisonous wrist
dart, Bounty Hunter gets hit with a variety of problems that ends up
killing the most dangerous mercenary in the galaxy.
Bounty
Hunter starts off on a remote outpost known as Outland Station with our
anti-hero, Jango Fett, on the hunt. Before long, our old friend Darth Tyranus
appears and offers Jango a job that will ultimately ensure his position as the
host for the Clone Army that was brought to light in Episode II. The target
this time is the leader of the Bando Gora, a cult whose power and influence
is beginning to threaten the malevolent plans of the Sith lords.
Gameplay is constructed from the basic action mold with plenty of running
and shooting. The problem with Bounty Hunter is that it doesn't offer
much else.
You'll traverse through 18 large levels blasting everything in your path just like the hundreds of other action games you've played before. There isn't even much in the way of puzzles or even pickups, making for a pretty dull outing to that galaxy far, far away. Just chase after a certain target and try not to get blasted along the way.
Despite its name, you never really feel like a bounty hunter in Bounty
Hunter. The hunt involves no stealth whatsoever and the game's secondary
bounty system is almost flawed to the point of becoming useless. Now, everyone
in the galaxy knows that the best and largest bounties come with a "no disintegration"
clause. So how is it that enemies can almost always see Jango a mile away? Is
there some kind of new Mandalorian radar detector available now on the Home
Shopping Network? Whatever it is, it sure makes capturing a live target near
impossible without a pitched battle.
Even setting up the secondary bounty is a pain in the armor-plated butt. First, you've got to drop your weapons and whip out your ID scanner. Then, you've got to place the crosshairs over the potential target to see if there's a bounty available and hit the 'mark' button. This might not be so bad if the previously mentioned Mandalorian detector unit wasn't available to the bad guys. But since it is, you'll have to spend a few moments completely defenseless as you try to lock in on your mark. Often times, you won't even be able to read the briefing to determine whether or not the target is worth more dead or alive, since a wave of enemies will be trying to blast you out of existence.
The situation gets even stickier with Bounty Hunter's random targeting
system. Let's say you're trying to bring in a target alive. Said target is surrounded
by five guards and doesn't want to go quietly. Two options are readily apparent:
(1) Blast the guards, then capture the mark or (2) Equip your whipcord and quickly
grab the mark before dispatching the others.
Here's where the problems set in: With the first choice, you risk blasting
your target because the auto target is completely random. You could try to use
the stationary fire option for greater accuracy, but of course that means you'll
have to stay completely still and leave yourself open to attack. Option 2 is
hindered by the random targeting, since you might end up grabbing one of the
guards instead.
The camera doesn't make things any easier since it stays locked in pretty tight at Jango's back. Players do have the option of rotating the camera with the C-stick, but this still can't prevent the wacky angles and vibrating screen that pops up when venturing too close to a wall.
Jango
is loaded with a few cool weapons like a flamethrower and jetpack-mounted missiles,
but switching between them is a pain. You'll need to cycle through the weapons
inventory one weapon at a time until you get to the desired instrument of destruction.
There is a pause feature for this, but it definitely breaks down what little
flow of excitement Bounty Hunter is capable of.
Bounty Hunter does a decent job with its visuals, but it's the ILM
cinematic sequences that really set it apart. Just watch one of these short
clips and you'll marvel at how similar they are to the Star Wars movies. Even
Rozatta the Toydarian bears a striking resemblance to Watto, her big screen
counterpart.
For the most part, the sound retains its traditional Star Wars quality. Great sound effects augmented with John Williams' work combine to form an outstanding audio offering. The only problem is that the music gets stuck in a loop on a few occasions. I love John Williams, but even his music will grate on the nerves when the same three seconds are played over and over again.
For the hardcore Star Wars geeks, Bounty Hunter's saving grace lies
in the details it fills in about Jango and the history of the man known as Jaster
Mereel. Between the story you get from the game and the unlockable Dark Horse
comic book, you'll be able to make more sense out of the famed bounty hunter's
mysterious past.
I can't shake the feeling that Star Wars: Bounty Hunter started off
as a grand and ambitious project that got pushed out into space before it was
ready. The possibilities for some genuine bounty hunting fun are in there, but
too many kinks exist for this particular mercenary to make it to the big time.